


Message Undeliverable

by lizard_socks



Category: Summer Camp Island (Cartoon)
Genre: E-mail, Gen, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:09:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks
Summary: Oscar tries to send an email.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Message Undeliverable

"Oscar, why are you getting up so early?"  


Oscar set his pajamas on the fully made bed and looked them in the eyes. "I've got big plans for today, Pajamas. I'm going to send an _email_."  


"Eee mail?"  


"It's like a letter, but for computers." He held up a small jar of mustard. "You see this mustard? It was of good quality and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So I'm going to send a message to the address printed on the back."  


Pajamas took a close look at the bottle. "Oscar, there's a number on here too. Can't you use your phone?"  


"I don't want my mom to get sent to voicemail," Oscar said. "She gets worried."  


* * *

It was still before sunrise. The moon was packing up his things and watching the clock, waiting until he could head out for the day. Oscar stepped outside, took a few steps to the right, and knocked on the door of Hedgehog's cabin.

"Oscar?" A sleepy-looking Hedgehog opened the door. "What are you doing up?"  


"I have to send an email."  


Oscar held up the mustard jar. Hedgehog looked at it for a moment, confused. "I'll take your word for it," she finally said.  


"Don't you have a computer?"  


"You've been here before, Oscar," Hedgehog said. "Have you ever seen one?"  


"Yeah, in that room under your bed."  


"Oh. Right." Hedgehog glanced at the shadow under her bed. "Well, I can't get back to sleep, and I don't have anything else going on today. I guess we can try it out."  


Oscar stepped inside, and the two of them crawled under the bed and into another fully furnished bedroom.  


"There it is," said Oscar. He pointed to a desktop computer on a nearby table.  


"Shouldn't we ask before using someone else's computer?" asked Hedgehog.  


Just then, the door crept open and a shadowy monster peeked his head inside.  


"Fine with me," he said.  


Hedgehog shrugged. "Okay."  


She tapped the mouse to wake the computer up from its screen saver and looked around the desktop.  


"Documents, photos, music... computer-aided design... flight simulator... huh." She turned to Oscar. "I don't see any internet apps on here."  


"Oh, yeah." The monster, despite his shapelessness, somehow shrugged. "We don't have good network connectivity down here. I uninstalled the email and web programs to save space. Which reminds me-" He moved into the room, pushing Hedgehog aside. "I've been meaning to defragment this again. It's been slow lately and I don't want this running when I might actually need it."  


* * *

"Well, that was a bust." Oscar followed Hedgehog down the central road of the summer camp. The sun was finally out and shining through the clouds. "Got any other ideas?"

"There's a lot of camp infrastructure in the mess hall. Maybe they'll have something there."  


The two campers walked inside, only to realize that it was practically deserted.  


"Where is everybody?" Hedgehog asked.  


Oscar walked over to where the chefs would normally be handing out food. "Found a note," he said. "It says: 'Since there's nothing going on today, the witches told us all we should sleep in another hour. If you still want breakfast at the normal time, please press this button.'"  


He held up the note. Taped to the bottom was a small plastic button taken from a jacket.  


"Did you try pressing it?" shouted Hedgehog from across the room.  


"Not yet."  


Oscar pressed the button, and out popped a banana and a bowl of yogurt and oatmeal.  


* * *

"This is good yogurt," said Oscar as they walked across camp. "What flavor is it?"

"I think it's vanilla."

"I like vanilla." He put another bite in his mouth.

The two of them arrived at Susie's cabin. The lights inside were still on; Susie had probably been up early too. "You think _she'll_ have a computer?" Hedgehog asked.

"She's the most in charge," said Oscar. "If anyone would have one, it would be her."

"And you don't think she'll get mad at us?"

"No, she'll get mad at _me_. For taking this bowl of yogurt out of the mess hall. Why do you think I brought it with?"

"Because you wanted more yogurt?"

Oscar's face lit up. "You do know me!"

Hedgehog knocked on the door. No response. She waited for a few seconds, then knocked again. A loud sigh came from the other side.  


"I'll be right there."  


A couple seconds later, Susie opened the door. She didn't look any grumpier than usual, so that was a good sign.  


"What do you want?"  


"Do you have a computer we could borrow?" Oscar asked.  


"No!" Susie glanced to her right. "It's in use at the moment."  


"By who?" asked Hedgehog.  


Susie lowered her voice. "If you _must_ know, Jimjams is doing a 2000 subscriber celebration stream. Isn't there a computer in the library you can use?"  


"Isn't that one haunted?"  


"We were all there," Oscar added, smiling. "Remember? It was my fault!"  


"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Well, I guess you're on your own, then. Now if you'll excuse me, _someone_ needs to monitor the group chat and call out new subscribers to Jimjams' channel."  


* * *

Hedgehog and Oscar climbed the steps to the monsters' townhouse. Oscar reached up to the door and almost started to knock before- "Oh, right. There's a doorbell." He pressed the button.  


Howard was the one who came to the door. "Hey, campers. What brings you here?"  


"We were wondering if you have a non-haunted computer," Oscar said.  


"I'm afraid ours is unavailable at the moment," said Howard. "It came to life last Thursday and ran away. We haven't seen it since. It's too bad, really - I was looking forward to watching Jimjams' live stream. We've put in an order for a new one but it's not supposed to get here till the weekend."  


* * *

"There's gotta be computers in Heartforde, right?" asked Hedgehog. The two of them sat on the front stoop of her cabin. "The store probably has one. I bet the newspaper does too."

"But those are work places," Oscar said. "Don't they need those computers for important business things?"

Hedgehog thought back to her father's office. "Yeah, I guess you're right. They use them to catalogue items, perform searches... Wait a minute. There's more than one computer at the library! Margot has one up front for record keeping."  


"And it probably doesn't have a ghost!" Oscar added. "Or if it does, it's a nice one that shows us how to use the computer and provides helpful tips!"  


"...Now you're hoping it _is_ haunted, aren't you?"

* * *

"Sorry, Oscar." Margot spun her computer around to face the kids. "This thing _used_ to connect to the internet, but it's too old now."  


"Noooo!" said Oscar. "We're going to have to make a slightly longer trip!"  


Hedgehog looked around the library. "Is there any way to get it working again?"  


"It's not the computer that's changed. We can still use it to keep track of holds and outstanding loans, and talk to some of the other computers on the island. But the websites out on the internet - they don't support this model anymore. That's what Dendy says, anyway."  


"Dendy?"  


"She helps us with computers," Margot said. "Haven't you seen her around?"  


"I don't think so," said Oscar. "Is that her?"  


"Where?"  


Oscar pointed to the pneumatic tubes behind the front desk. A teenage girl, pale green with brown hair and a bold yellow jumpsuit, slowly emerged from the tube. She hopped onto her feet and walked over to the front of the computer.  


"Ah. Yes. I see." She stepped away. "This computer may not be capable of rending modern websites, but it can still be configured to connect to an email server. All it needs is an application with new ciphers and an up-to-date certificate store."  


Margot reached into the desk and pulled out a network cable. "Here's the cord," she said, plugging one end into the back of the computer. "Should I go hook it back up?"  


Dendy nodded, and Margot made her way across the room with the other end of the cable.  


"So you just need to get a new app on here?" Hedgehog asked.  


"Indeed. I believe I can acquire it using Gopher."  


"Who's that?" asked Oscar.  


"Gopher is a legacy protocol for file and data transfer over the internet," Dendy explained. "It got its name because it was invented by a gopher."  


"I've got it plugged in," Margot said, walking back over to the desk. "Is it working?"  


"I have a connection." Dendy nodded again. "As part of my role in coordinating communications, I also have a working email account for island business. I'll configure the credentials now."  


Oscar, Hedgehog, and Margot waited while Dendy installed the software and set up the email account. It only took a few minutes before she had everything up and running.  


"I believe this is the moment you have been waiting for," Dendy said, stepping away from the keyboard.  



End file.
